Doctors' morale 'precarious' in Wakefield

Morale among GPs in Wakefield is "precarious", the doctor leading a review into general practice in the district has said.
Dr Greg Connor is leading a review into General Practice in Wakefield.Dr Greg Connor is leading a review into General Practice in Wakefield.
Dr Greg Connor is leading a review into General Practice in Wakefield.

Dr Greg Connor said that Wakefield remains a "good place" for GPs to work, but that it was important to keep healthcare professionals happy".

Last year, the British Medical Association (BMA) warned that patient care across the UK was at risk due to a "chronic shortage" of new doctors replacing those who had reached retirement.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Earlier this year, Dr Connor said that this had had a knock-on effect on doctors' stress levels because they were having to see more patients.

Speaking at a meeting of Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group's (CCG) probity committee on Tuesday, Dr Connor said that despite the issues, investment had improved parts of the service in recent years.

He said: "Overall, although morale is precarious in general practice in Wakefield, we've done a lot of work to innovate and to collaborate (between surgeries). We need to build on this.

"Looking after staff and keeping them happy and motivated is part of making general practice good."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Connor said that one of the issues to address was the discrepancy between the best and the worst GP surgeries in the area.

It comes as 11 practices have been told by the CCG to improve patient satisfaction levels.

Dr Connor said: "Our investment in general practice has been more than our peer CCGs.

"It is a good place to practice is Wakefield.

"But we've got a situation where our best practices are some of the best in the region and some of our not-so-good surgeries are a lot worse than the not-so-good ones elsewhere."

Related topics: